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Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Joe Lieberman Photo: AP
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Several small groups of Secret Service employees separately visited
clubs, bars and brothels in Colombia prior to a visit by President
Barack Obama last month and engaged in reckless, "morally repugnant"
behaviour, a US senator has claimed.
Sen. Susan Collins, speaking as the first
congressional hearing on the scandal begins, says the prostitution
scandal could have provided a foreign intelligence service, drug cartels
or other criminals with opportunities for blackmail or coercion that
could have threatened the president's safety.
In
remarks prepared for Wednesday's hearing, Ms Collins also challenged
early assurances that the scandal in Colombia appeared to be an isolated
incident. The senator noted that two participants were Secret Service
supervisors – one with 21 years of service and the other with 22 years –
and both were married.
"This was not a
one-time event," said Ms Collins, the senior Republican on the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "The circumstances
unfortunately suggest an issue of culture."
The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the president and those close to the presidency.
Sen.
Joe Lieberman, the committee's chairman, said, "I want to hear what the
Secret Service is doing to encourage people to report egregious
behaviour when they see it."
Wednesday's hearing was expected to expose
sensational new details in the scandal, which became public after a
dispute over payment between a Secret Service agent and a prostitute at a
Cartagena hotel on April 12. The Secret Service was in the coastal
resort before Obama's arrival for a Latin American summit. Collins said
several small groups of agency employees from two hotels went out
separately to clubs, bars and brothels and they "all ended up in similar
circumstances."
"Contrary to the conventional storyline, this was not simply a single, organised group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.
A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that four of the Secret Service employees have decided to fight their dismissals.
Senators were expected to focus on whether the Secret Service permitted a culture in which such behaviour was tolerated. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been sceptical.
In his own prepared remarks, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told senators the behaviour in Colombia was not representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees.
"Contrary to the conventional storyline, this was not simply a single, organised group that went out for a night on the town together," Collins said.
A dozen Secret Service officers and supervisors and 12 other U.S. military personnel were implicated. Eight Secret Service employees, including the two supervisors, have lost their jobs. The Secret Service is moving to permanently revoke the security clearance for one other employee, and three others have been cleared of serious wrongdoing.
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| Images of the woman known only as 'Dania' show her posing for the camera. |
Senators were expected to focus on whether the Secret Service permitted a culture in which such behaviour was tolerated. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has testified that she would be surprised if there were other examples, but senators have been sceptical.
In his own prepared remarks, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told senators the behaviour in Colombia was not representative of the agency's nearly 7,000 employees.
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